INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has created a new program to address the wide-reaching effects of gun violence on families across Marion County.
The program will help survivors of shootings navigate resources available to help them through life after the event.
This does not only include homicides, as nonfatal shootings are also impacting many lives.
Danyell McCoullough is a mother who knows firsthand what gun violence can do to a family. In one shooting she lost a son while another son was critically injured. McCoullough believes if a program like this was in existence after the shooting, it would have changed things.
"Up until now, I was trying to figure out things on my own," McCoullough said. "How to deal with it spiraling down very very fast. How do you know how to heal if you don't have resources and tools to go to."
She believes the tools will come in handy for young people in Indianapolis.
"It's needed, especially for our youth," McCoullough said. "We are losing our children. These babies are dying very rapidly and it's sad."
DeAndra Dycus also knows what it's like to have a child shot but survive. Her son Dre was injured in a 2014 shooting and is now living with quadriplegia. She has partnered with IMPD to help manage the new program called the "nonfatal shooting support group". It is geared to help survivors.
"What a lot of people don't know is you leave the hospital and you don't always get that information," Dycus said. "They are trying to get you home and get you well and you are left out here trying to figure out what's the new steps."
The program will help survivors navigate resources available to help them through life after a shooting.
The program is a partnership between Dycus, IUPUI's O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and the Indianapolis Office of Public Health and Safety. The city received a grant through the Office of Public Health and Safety from the American Rescue Plan.
So far in 2022, there have been 47 confirmed homicides and 136 nonfatal shootings in Indianapolis, according to data from IMPD.
-
Officers are using AI to write crime reports. Will they hold up in court?
Lafayette Police Chief Scott Galloway told the AP that all of his officers can use Draft One on any kind of case and it's been “incredibly popular” since the pilot began earlier this year.Heat dome builds in central US, forcing some schools to close
Extremely high heat indices are forcing some schools in the Midwest to close as the National Weather Service warns of dangerously high temperatures.Man shot in back during overnight Facebook Marketplace exchange
At the scene officers found a man who suffered a graze wound to his back during a Facebook marketplace exchange, according to IMPD officers at the scene.Deaths, widespread damage reported in Ukraine after massive Russian attack
In what appeared to be Russia's biggest attack against Ukraine in weeks, Ukraine President Zelenskyy said dozens have been killed or wounded.